The upcoming Referendum on 18th September, over whether Scotland should remain part of the UK, has placed a large question mark over the Scottish economy and the student housing market is no exception.

At present, Scottish students and those from other EU member states get free university tuition. However, students from other parts of the UK are currently charged tuition fees. Under EU law it is possible to discriminate between students from different parts of an individual member state but not to discriminate against those from other parts of the EU.

In the event that Scotland became independent and was a separate member of the EU, either all students would have to pay fees, which could lead to significant falls in student demand from other EU countries. Alternatively, students from the rest of the UK would also have to be offered free tuition fees. This could lead to Scottish universities being flooded with students from the rest of the UK and a higher education funding shortfall.

Legal advice sought by Universities Scotland has indicated that it could be possible to continue charging tuition fees to students from the rest of the UK. The system would need to be restructured so that tuition fees were applied equally to all students regardless of nationality but maintenance grants equal to the value of the fees would be awarded to Scottish-domiciled students. Eligibility for the maintenance grants would be on the grounds of residency in Scotland, perhaps for a minimum of five years, rather than nationality.

The Scottish Government has adopted parts of this legal advice in its White Paper on Independence. However, the White Paper’s position on whether students from parts of the EU other than the rest of the UK will pay tuition fees is far from certain, stating that they will have the same right of access to education as home students.

In reality, the assessment of eligibility would have to apply equally to the rest of the UK students and students from other EU member countries. Crucially, an independent Scottish Government would need to prove that this proposed structure was necessary to prevent the collapse of university education in Scotland. Maintaining the status quo will be a challenge for the Scottish Government post-independence given previous unsuccessful attempts by Austria and Belgium to place similar restrictions on non-national students.

Overall, there is a lack of certainty over the position of tuition fees in an independent Scotland. Although the vote is being held in September 2014, the Scottish Government has marked 24th March 2016 as the date that Scotland would become independent. In the event of a ‘Yes’ vote, this would result in a further 18 months of doubt while fundamental issues relating to the funding of Scotland’s higher education system are debated.

Click the below image to enlarge

Taken from
Spotlight: UK Student Housing 2014